billow
English
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billow¹
- /ˈbɪl.oʊ/ Canada, US
- /ˈbɪl.əʊ/ California, UK
- /ˈbɪl.əʉ/ Australia
- /ˈbɪl.loː(w)/ South Asia
- /bɪˈloː(w)/ South Asia
Sounds like below · Rhymes with -ɪləʊ
Where it comes from
From Middle English *bilwe, borrowed from Old Norse bylgja, from Proto-Germanic *bulgijō.
Cognates include Danish bølge (“wave”); Norwegian Bokmål bølge (“wave”), Norwegian Nynorsk bylgje (“wave”); Swedish bölja (“wave”); German Low German Bulge, Bulg, Bülg (“billow, wave”); German Bulge (“billow, wave”). Compare bellow, bawl.
noun billows
- A large wave, swell, surge, or undulating mass of something, such as water, smoke, fabric or sound. […] Whom the winds waft where'er the billows roll, / From the world's girdle to the frozen pole;
verb billows · billowing · billowed
- To surge or roll in billows. During the preceding afternoon a heavy North Pacific fog had blown in … Scudding eastward from the ocean, it had crept up and over the redwood-studded crests of the Coast Range mountains, […], billowing steadily eastward, it had rolled up the western slopes of the Siskiyou Range, […]
- To swell out or bulge. Her new green flowered-muslin dress spread its twelve yards of billowing material over her hoops and exactly matched the flat-heeled green morocco slippers her father had recently brought her from Atlanta.
Billow²
Where it comes from
Probably a variant of Bellow or Bellew.
proper noun Billows
- A surname.
Translations
Every language
noun large wave
| Español | oleada, ola |
|---|---|
| 日本語 | 波浪 harō |
| 中文 | 巨浪 jùlàng |
| Português | vaga |
| Français | flot |
| Deutsch | Woge |
| Italiano | maroso |
| Русский | больша́я волна́ bolʹšája volná, вал val |
verb to surge in billows
| Français | ondoyer |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | wabern, wogen |
| Русский | вздыма́ться vzdymátʹsja |
verb to swell or bulge
| Español | hincharse, inflarse |
|---|---|
| Deutsch | bauschen |
| Русский | надува́ться naduvátʹsja, выпя́чиваться vypjáčivatʹsja |
Talk about this word "billow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn, micwyn.com/word/billow. Accessed 6 Nov. 2026. billow. (n.d.). In Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Retrieved November 6, 2026, from https://micwyn.com/word/billow "billow." Wiktionary, via Micwyn. Accessed November 6, 2026. https://micwyn.com/word/billow.Cite this
@misc{billow_2026,
title = {billow},
howpublished = {Wiktionary, via Micwyn},
year = {2026},
url = {https://micwyn.com/word/billow},
urldate = {2026-11-06}
}
